Ex-Post Office boss blamed ’subbies with hand in till’ for Horizon shortfalls in 2009 email
Ex-Post Office boss Alan Cook said his ’instincts’ told him cash-strapped subpostmasters were stealing from tills as they were struggling due to the recession in an email in 2009
An ex-Post Office boss accused “subbies with their hand in the till” of blaming the Horizon IT system in a 2009 email, the inquiry has heard.
In a damning revelation, Alan Cook told a Royal Mail PR officer his “instincts” told him cash-strapped subpostmasters were stealing from the till as they were struggling after the 2008 recession. He told the inquiry the expression is one he will "regret for the rest of my life", adding: “It was an inappropriate thing to put in an email. It was not in line with my view of subpostmasters."
The email to Mary Fagan read: "For some strange reason there is a steadily building nervousness about the accuracy of the Horizon system and the press are on it now as well. It is the more strange in that the system has been stable and reliable for many years now and there is absolutely no logical reason why these fears should now develop. My instincts tell me that, in a recession, subbies (subpostmasters) with their hand in the till choose to blame the technology when they are found to be short of cash."
Mr Cook was also grilled about an email from a Post Office investigator which said he had requested a "more robust defence of Horizon". He denied saying this.
Mr Cook, who was as the Post Office’s managing director from March 2006 to January 2010, told the inquiry he believed subpostmasters felt "unloved" when he came into the role, adding: "One of my early objectives was to try and get close to the subpostmaster community and try to resolve that.”
More than 160 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted during his time at the Post Office. Asked about certain cases, Mr Cook said he was "unaware" of subpostmaster Lee Castleton having been found to have a £25,000 shortfall at his east Yorkshire branch.
Mr Castleton, who was portrayed by Will Mellor in ITV ’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office, declared bankruptcy after losing the case and being left with costs of more than £320,000. Mr Cook admitted ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells was the “likely” person to have signed off on the significant figure being spent on the case after denying approving it himself.
Mr Cook also said he was unaware of Jane Skinner’s case, who was sentenced to nine month in jail over an alleged shortfall of £59,000. He issued a personal apology to Ms Skinner, who was watching in the inquiry room, for the “disgraceful” way she was treated. He also admitted he ought to have known there was a "deliberate strategy" to use a charge of theft as a "sledgehammer to force a plea or to crush subpostmasters into submission".
Speaking later to reporters outside, she said his apology was “probably” sincere, but added: “I think his evidence has been insincere. “He was sat at the head of that table and he would have known what was going on.”
More than 900 subpostmasters were prosecuted between 1999 and 2015 as Fujitsu’s flawed Horizon software made it appear as though they were stealing cash.
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